"While George Washington Carver didn't make any
great scientific discoveries or create a revolution
in race relations, he helped many people improve their
lives and see beyond the narrow confines of race and
color. He endured the humiliations of segregation and
came into daily contact with poverty, and he worked
together with people who didn't always share his desires
or agree with his methods. But he persevered, and in
the end he offered humankind his enthusiasm for learning
and for sharing what he knew with people who really
needed it"

Much of the success of George's
outreach to farmers hinged on his almost magical ability
to teach. He did not attempt to demonstrate his superior
knowledge about the subjects he studied, but merely tried
to transmit what he knew simply and directly. As a result,
farmers could understand what he had to tell them and
felt more comfortable in adopting the methods which he
described. The Farmer's Conferences and classes that he
organized enabled him to come into contact with hundreds
of farmers throughout the area, and to apply his knowledge
to the needs of individual farmers.

In the classroom, George became legendary for being able
to draw students' attention like a magnet. His sense of
humor would enliven classroom discussions, and he would
endeavor that each student work to their fullest capacity.
On one point he remained adamant, however: he would not
under any circumstances sacrifice quality. "There are
only two ways," he would tell his students. "One is right,
and the other is wrong. About is always wrong. Don't tell
me it's about right. If it's only about right, then it's
wrong. If you come to a stream five feet wide and jump
four and a half feet, you fall in and get drowned. You
might as well have tumbled in from the other side and
saved yourself the exertion of a jump." George simply
demanded from students what he demanded from himself:
a high standard, and the will to attain it.

The entire Institute, besides being understaffed, also
suffered from extremely meager funding. George could count
on only a tiny trickle of support from the state government,
and he responded in the only way he could, by inventing
things. "Equipment," he would say, "is not all in the
laboratory, but partly in the head of the man running
it." To supply his classroom and laboratory, he turned
once again to the junkyard. A broken china bowl and a
length of iron became his mortar and pestle; the fruit
jar lids other people threw away supplied him with zinc
sulfate; even the nearby reed patch pushed up a continual
crop of pipettes. If a student complained about his lack
of supplies, George would reply, "There's no need to whine,
'Oh, if only I had so-and-so!' Do it anyhow; use what
you find about you!"

While George worked strenuously to produce change in his
own locality, his efforts eventually propelled him into
the national arena. His work with the peanut, in particular,
called the attention of the peanut industry, which immediately
recognized the public appeal George Carver could have
in promoting their product. On its invitation, George
appeared before the House Ways and Means Committee to
lobby for a peanut tariff. He won the tariff, and he also
won respect from the congressmen by presenting "one of
the most interesting talks I have ever heard before the
committee," as one later expressed. He further impressed
the committee by receiving their sometimes thinly veiled
racist comments with a rare sense of humor and dignity
that embarrassed the ones who uttered them.

After this event, George Carver rose to national fame
almost overnight. He began traveling far and wide to give
lectures on his work with the peanut, and his talks were
immensely popular among both white and black audiences
across the nation. While he never talked directly about
racism in his speeches on campuses and at Christian youth
gatherings, he demonstrated that a black man could earn
the respect of the white community for his achievements,
without sacrificing his own dignity. As a result of his
talks, many people felt that Carver helped them to see
beyond their racial prejudices and even inspire them to
try to end racial prejudice in their country.

While George Washington Carver didn't make any great scientific
discoveries or create a revolution in race relations,
he helped many people improve their lives and see beyond
the narrow confines of race and color. He endured the
humiliations of segregation and came into daily contact
with poverty, and he worked together with people who didn't
always share his desires or agree with his methods. But
he persevered, and in the end he offered humankind his
enthusiasm for learning and for sharing what he knew with
people who really needed it.

On January 5, 1942, George Washington Carver died in his
bed. He had become a figure of international importance
whose death was mourned by laborers and politicians, by
students and by businessmen, and by men and women of diverse
races and creeds. His life, filled with tremendous difficulties
and suffering, had touched millions of people, and his
death showed just how far his love had reached. As one
young student wrote, "You have shown me the one race,
the human race. Color of skin or form of hair mean nothing
to me now, but length, and width, and breadth of soul
and loving kindness mean everything."